The spiral chamber had gone still.
Kieran knelt, blood on his lip, the silver feather cooling in his hand. Around him, the others stirred—slowly, painfully—dragging themselves from the weight of the Mind Hex.
No one spoke.
Not at first.
Then Talon groaned, slumping against a pillar. "Did anyone else...die in there?"
Rei exhaled sharply. "Felt like it."
Nova leaned against the wall, knives trembling in her hands. "We're still in the chamber."
Calla nodded slowly. "Then it's not over."
Selene was already moving. She dropped beside Talon, pressing two fingers to his forehead. A warm, soft light bloomed from her palm—golden, like filtered sun through leaves. His shallow breath deepened. The blood at his side slowed.
"You're not dying today," she whispered.
Behind them, Kieran's shadow twitched.
He felt it before he heard it—the pressure.
Soft at first. A hum, low and pulsing. The spiral of feathers trembled.
"Something's still here," he said.
Then they all heard it.
Skrrrk.
The sound of something sharp pulling itself free of stone.
Skrrrk. Skrrrk. Skrrrk.
They turned.
At the far end of the chamber, a crack split the wall.
From within, a shape crawled out—long-limbed, pale-skinned, faceless. Its body was half-humanoid, half insect. Ribs too wide. Arms too thin. Its chest pulsed with amber veins beneath translucent skin, like breath behind broken glass.
It shrieked.
Not loud—but wrong.
It moved like a thing born sideways.
Name: Hollowborn Leech
Rank: Awakened
Class: Wretch
Threat Profile: Post-Trial parasite. Feeds on unresolved psychic trauma.
Weakness: Disrupted focus. Vulnerable to concentrated light or internal clarity.
"Positions!" Selene shouted.
Calla immediately stepped forward, summoning a flicker of fire in her palm.
Nothing came.
She stared at her hand. "Not now—"
Nova took a stance beside her. "You're still rattled."
The creature surged.
Fast.
It covered twenty feet in a blink—sliding along shadow, screaming static. Its claws struck toward Talon—
And were deflected.
Rei's gauntlet glowed from the impact, his body planted like a wall.
"You want him?" he snarled. "Come through me."
He drove his fist forward—kinetic force exploding in a burst. The Hollowborn screeched and staggered back, limbs twitching.
Kieran moved.
No thought—just instinct.
Shadow answered.
His blade appeared—half-dream, half-memory. He struck low, catching the beast's thigh. Shadow fire hissed where it bit. The creature reared, twisting in midair—
And shrieked in his voice.
Kieran froze.
The beast mimicked him—perfectly.
"I see you," it hissed, mouthless, as it lunged again.
Selene threw up a flash of light. The creature recoiled—hissing, stumbling.
"She blinded it—now!" Nova shouted.
Calla clenched her fists. Flame flared to life. Her face hardened.
"Again."
They circled the creature. Wounded. Shaken. Underpowered.
But not broken.
And the Hollowborn Leech—
—was hungry.